Pierre Eau Business Strategy

How often have you attended a presentation where great attention apparently went into designing the slides – and apparently none into how they were used? Or the speaker played with the slides as if to entertain rather than edify?

Such idiosyncratic presentation techniques have helped give rise to the calumnious phrase “death by PowerPoint”. PowerPoint and other types of visual aids can significantly enhance a presentation if properly used. And significantly detract from it if improperly used.

It is normal for each person to have his or her individual style for using slides. Such individuality often adds to the effectiveness of the presentation; however excessive individuality damages clarity and comprehension, putting effectiveness at risk.

Fortunately, this problem can be easily resolved. By recognizing and applying three fundamental principles of slide presentations, you can make “death by PowerPoint” completely disappear.

Fundamental Principles of Slide Presentations

1. Use the slides; don’t be controlled by them

It is important to recognize that slides are a visual aid. And the most important part of this term is “aid”. Too many speakers seem to believe that if they show enough slides, their presentation will automatically be successful.

The opposite is true. No matter how good the slides, if they assume center stage, the presentation will almost certainly be less effective than it could be.

2. Show that you are in charge

Keep in mind that the greatest visual aid is YOU. People come to hear what you have to say because they believe that you have something important to impart to them. So they want to see you, hear your voice, and watch your facial expressions, and observe body movements in order to better understand and evaluate your ideas and information.

If you start your presentation by immediately turning off the lights, and keep them off until the presentation is finished, it is almost as if you are not there. It would be easier and more convenient for everyone just to send the audience the presentation as a videocassette or DVD for them to play at their leisure.

3. Present a “win-win” situation

To be truly effective, slides must:

• Help the speaker deliver a better presentation

• Help the audience better understand the presentation

It is not a question of either/or. The speaker and the audience must both benefit; otherwise, neither one will. This means that you must deliver a good presentation both in terms of content and slides.

It is generally a good idea to prepare the first draft of your presentation without any slides, then return to your text to see where slides are really needed. This will ensure that you do not drown the audience in slides – and that each slide is truly useful.

If you take these three fundamental principles fully on board, you are already well on your way to an effective presentation. Here are a few practical suggestions to make your inherently good presentation even better.

A. Use build-up slides

Let’s try an experiment. Open a newspaper or magazine to any page. Keep looking at it, but try not to read anything on the page. It is virtually impossible. The moment the eye is confronted with text, there is a natural urge to read it.

Putting too much text on a slide has the same effect. The speaker may expect the audience to pay attention only to the part of the text he is talking about and ignore the rest. In reality, while the speaker is talking about the text at the top, the audience will almost certainly be reading the text below.

The result is significant loss of attention. Since attention ensures better comprehension, using text-heavy slides is detrimental to speakers and listeners alike.

To maintain attention, introduce text gradually, not all at once.

In the days of 35 mm and overhead transparencies, this was achieved by using “build-up slides”. For example, instead of showing five bullet points on a single slide, the speaker prepared six sides. The first slide showed only the title; the rest of the screen was left empty. The next one showed the title plus bullet point 1; the rest of the screen was left empty. The next slide showed the title plus bullet points 1 and 2. The same was done for each succeeding slide. It was only on the last slide that the full text (general statement + bullet points) became visible.

Producing six slides was of course considerably more expensive than producing only one. But it was also considerably more effective.

You should use the same technique with computer-generated slides. There is essentially no additional cost. Moreover, you can use animation to highlight each new bullet point as it appears on the screen in order to reinforce its importance. For example:

Slide 1

Title

Slide 2

Title

• First bullet point

Slide 3

Title

• First bullet point

• Second bullet point

Slide 4

Title

• First bullet point

• Second bullet point

• Third bullet point

And so on.

Illustrated slides such as diagrams, flow charts, etc., work essentially the same way. Introduce the illustration piece by piece so that the audience will not be drawn to one part of the image while you are talking about another. There are three possible variations to this approach.

1. Introduce the illustration piece by piece, with commentary, until the illustration is complete

2. Show the full illustration to give an overview. Then re-introduce it piece by piece, with commentary, until it is complete.

3. Show the full illustration to give an overview. Then re-introduce it piece by piece, with commentary, until it is complete. However, occasionally revert to the overview to remind the audience of where the piece-by-piece build up is leading.

Read the Text to the Audience

Another common mistake is for the speaker to continue talking while the audience is reading. Once again, this results in significant loss of attention.

The remedy is quite simple. The speaker should read the slide aloud to the audience. This ensures that:

• The attention of the listeners is first focused totally on the text.

• Next, it is focused totally on the speaker.

If the speaker reads the slide aloud, the audience is not forced to do two things at the same time: reading the slide while trying to listening to the commentary. Attention is maintained, and everyone benefits.

B. Use your laser pointer correctly

My bête noire (black beast) is in fact red. It is the horrendous way many speakers use their laser pointers. Like old-fashioned stick pointers, lasers should be used to:

• Help the audience identify and better understand the importance of key words and phrases in text slides.

• Help the audience identify and better understand the importance of key elements in photos, drawings, diagrams, flow charts, and other illustrations.

Pointing is all that is necessary. Don’t keep circling key words or visual elements. Don’t keep swinging the laser beam back and forth across the screen. The eye will naturally follow these movements. Since they add nothing to the presentation, they subtract from it.

The best way to avoid making these damaging gestures is by using the pointer as name implies. Just point to identify the key word or element you want to talk about, then turn it off. When you want to point to something else, simply turn it on again.

C. Pace your slides

Slides support what the speaker is saying. Therefore, they should:

• Appear on the screen only when needed.

• Stay on the screen only as long as needed.

The first point is obvious. You don’t want to show a slide before you are ready to talk about it. And of course hardly anyone e

ver does this.

Immediately removing the slide from the screen when it is no longer needed apparently is less obvious. Many speakers leave a slide on the screen while they talk about something else just to have something there until they are ready for the next one. Worse, they create “filler slides” they don’t really need just to have something there.

Both tactics damage the presentation. As long as something is on the screen, the eye will be attracted to it. This significantly reduces attention on what the speaker is saying, and so hurt comprehension.

When you don’t really need a slide, don’t show one. Either leave the screen blank or project a soft background color until the next slide is needed. Don’t project a logo or any other illustration, which can only serve as a distraction.

If it will be several minutes before the next slide, turn the lights up so the audience can see who is talking to them. Remember, you are the star of the show, not the slides.

Properly used, slides can significantly boost the interest and effectiveness of a presentation. Poorly used, they can significantly damage a presentation. It takes only slightly more effort to do it well than to do it poorly. You owe to yourself and your audience to make this minor investment for this major return.

Philip Yaffe is a former reporter/feature writer with The Wall Street Journal and a marketing communication consultant. He currently teaches a course in good writing and good speaking in Brussels, Belgium. His recently published book In the “I” of the Storm: the Simple Secrets of Writing & Speaking (Almost) like a Professional is available from Story Publishers in Ghent, Belgium (storypublishers.be) and Amazon (amazon.com).

For further information, contact:

Philip Yaffe

Brussels, Belgium

Tel: +32 (0)2 660 0405

Email: phil.yaffe@yahoo.com

Are you working on your business plan for computer consulting?

If you’re like many others starting their own computer consulting businesses, you are probably used to doing a lot of generalist work.  Perhaps you’ve been doing some computer repairs, basic network installations, troubleshooting or answering help desk type questions.

So given that many have similar skills, what can you do in your business plan for computer consulting that will set you apart from the competition and bring you the best, steady, high-paying clients in your area?

Know What Being a Generalist Actually Means. Before you can set yourself apart from other generalists, you need to understand what exactly defines the term “generalist.”  As a generalist, you’ll probably be answering basic how-to questions; troubleshooting; designing networks; providing basic training; acting as a go-between with phone companies, Web hosts and ISP’s; making product recommendations; procuring hardware and software; managing IT assets; configuring and customizing; testing; integrating and planning big-picture IT strategy.  Basically as a generalist, you will do everything.  So writing a business plan that will make you unique, even when you are doing a lot of generalist work, is really about figuring out what you offer that no one else is providing.  In other words, what can you provide that’s of unique, compelling value?  And how can you play this up in a big-time way in your marketing messages? Show You Are Not a Commodity. If you want to set yourself apart from others that have just a flimsy or non-existent business plan for computer consulting, base your plan around making sure that you are not seen as a commodity by potential clients.  Therefore, make sure that you never to base the value of your services on price.  For example, you can’t base your uniqueness on something like, “We are different from everyone else because we offer the cheapest computer consulting services you can find.”  You need to find your real strengths and base your business on the problems that you solve for your clients and the benefits that you offer your clients.  This problem-solving, benefits-focused approach needs to come through loud and clear in all of your marketing materials.  And ultimately this goes a long way toward attracting less price-sensitive clients that are more value-oriented and willing to pay higher hourly billing rates for premium services and results-based, ROI-centric projects (return-on-investment). Focus Your Business Plan for Computer Consulting on Long-Term Clients. If you want to wonder where your business is going all the time, worry about your next pay check or scramble to make ends meet, by all means build your business around one-shot deal customers.  But if you really want profitability and longevity, focus on providing long-term solutions to steady, high-paying clients.  When approach with a well thought-out sales process sequence, most of these clients will ultimately sign on for ongoing service agreements and be with you for the long haul. So sell benefits that will appeal to those really looking for a long-term, technology-focused business improvement plan, and not just short-term quick-fixes.  As you’re thinking about the benefits you are going to offer, make sure you really consider how you can fulfill long-term needs and convince your target prospects, customers and clients of the importance of real technology planning to the health and success of their companies.

In this short article, we talked about 3 tips for building a powerful, long-term business plan for computer consulting that attracts great, steady, high-paying clients.  Learn more proven secrets about creating a strong, profitable business plan for computer consulting now at http://www.BusinessPlan4ComputerConsulting.com

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Within this article on creating online advertising business opportunities, we’ll look at ways that you are able to build your online business through online advertising.  There are many different ways that you can go around this so we will look at a couple of very good and low-cost ways to do this.

One of the best ways that you’re able to market online at a low cost is through giveaways.  You can do this in many different ways but one the best ways is to go to free forums and post that you have free giveaways at your website.  You will want your giveaway item to be very low cost. By keeping costs low, you can post to these forums on a regular basis and receive steady traffic which can help you build your website. You’ll be generating a great deal of traffic for yourself at a very low cost. There are many different ways to run a sweepstakes or a giveaways contest but many websites will have giveaways pursuant upon the fact that you sign up for their newsletter.  Make sure that the people who sign up are ones that you want to target because your newsletter can be your greatest source of advertising.

Another great way that you can bring about more traffic to your website is through Adwords. Adwords is a form of advertising that is run by Google where you are allowed to bid on certain keywords that people search for.  You can run your advertising using a budget and you’ll know that you’re getting the target audience that you want towards your website.  One of the ways that you can work at saving and maintaining a budget using  Adwords is to log into your Google account every day to see how much it is costing you to use your keywords.  By looking at how much it costs for keywords, you can make sure that your advertising budget is right on track with what you should be. You can also get an idea as to trends developing with the costs of Adwords.  

Hopefully this article on creating online advertising business opportunities will help you out.  The first part of this article focused on online advertising business opportunities and how to build your business. A different angle on creating online advertising business opportunities is spotlighted now. There is a great deal of unused advertising out there which could be bought up at discounts on what online advertising firms normally charge.  If you were able to find a great deal of this unused advertising and buy it at a discount, you could resell it to other companies looking to put more of their advertising out online and charge them a higher price.  This is often known as advertising arbitrage where you buy the ad spots at a discount and then resell them at a slightly higher price but making sure that the people who ultimately by your ads are getting a very good discount.  All parties win in this particular engagement. This gives you something to think about the next time that you see empty spaces on a website’s home page.